Onboard Charger Control System Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filing already peaked. 2019 recorded 16 filings, the high point of the dataset; by the 2022 midpoint annual filing had fallen to 7, and the trend has not recovered since.
- Power conversion, not vehicle body, is where the claims sit. H02M and H02J together account for the bulk of the IPC composition alongside B60L, confirming this is fundamentally a power-electronics filing area.
- Co-filing is rare and concentrated. Only 4 co-assignee pairs exist across 58 families, and the strongest single pairing links two Korean automakers rather than a supplier-OEM combination.
What the onboard charger control patent record actually covers
An onboard charger control system governs how a vehicle converts AC grid power into DC battery current on board, coordinating power factor correction (PFC), closed-loop feedback and protection logic during charging. The search corpus behind this page combines the OBC hardware terms with the control-strategy terms directly, so it captures documents that describe how charging is regulated rather than every patent that merely mentions an onboard charger in passing.
Across 58 published families since 2015, filing rose to a single peak year and has since declined toward a flatter baseline, a pattern more consistent with a maturing claim space than an emerging one. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the final one or two years in any such trend will always look thinner than they eventually turn out to be.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trend and technology composition
The two views below separate timing from subject matter: when families were filed, and which IPC subclasses they were assigned to. Read together they show a claim space that grew quickly, peaked, and has since split its remaining activity across a narrower set of power-electronics subclasses.
A single peak year, then decline
Filing rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 16 in 2019, then eased back to 7 by the 2022 midpoint. The flat-to-declining shape after the peak suggests the core control architectures were staked out early, with later filings refining rather than founding the space.
Power electronics dominates the classification mix
B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) leads at 46 of the classified records, but H02M (power conversion) at 35 and H02J (power supply and grid systems) at 30 confirm that the substantive claims are about power-conversion topology and grid interaction, not vehicle-body integration. B60R, H02P, G05F, H01F and B62J each appear in single digits, marking them as peripheral rather than core to this dataset.
Shares are the percentage of the 58 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Onboard Charger Control System with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about onboard charger control system and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe records that anchor this landscape
WO2026020138A1 — Multi-function on-board charger for two or three wheeled electric vehicles
Various battery charging systems, methods and devices for an electric vehicle are described herein. The charging systems may comprise one or more charging ports, the charging ports comprising a charging interface configured to receive a first charging plug that supplies a first direct current (DC) from a charging station, the second charging interface configured to receive a second charging plug that supplies an alternating current (AC), a DC/DC converter, a rectifier being operably coupled to the DC/DC converter via the charging input, the rectifier is configured to convert the AC to a DC output and supply the DC output to the charging input of the DC/DC converter; and a battery charger conFiled by Lyra Energy Solutions Inc, published 2026-01-22 — the most recent record in this dataset and outside the two-and three-wheeler segment rather than passenger EVs.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US10562404B1 | Integrated onboard chargers for plug-in electric vehicles | 86 |
| 2 | US8994327B2 | Apparatus and method for charging an electric vehicle | 72 |
| 3 | US20130049684A1 | Apparatus and method for charging an electric vehicle | 26 |
| 4 | CN108790867A | 一种纯电动车辆远程预约充电控制策略 | 22 |
| 5 | EP2562030A2 | Apparatus and method for charging an electric vehicle | 21 |
| 6 | US20210016672A1 | Integrated charger and motor control system | 20 |
| 7 | US20220286057A1 | Energy conversion system, energy conversion method, and power system | 16 |
| 8 | US20160023560A1 | Method for controlling on-board charger of eco-friendly vehicle | 14 |
| 9 | US20190260287A1 | PFC controller and method of controlling the same | 13 |
| 10 | KR1020170093014A | A PFC circuit device for high-power, high-power density ev on-board charger | 12 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; a low count on a 2024-2026 record does not mean it is unimportant.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns matter more than the raw counts: where the peak sits, how narrow the co-filing network is, and how citation weight distributes across the record.
The core architecture window has likely closed
A peak in 2019 followed by a decline to the 2022 midpoint indicates the foundational control-loop and PFC topology claims were largely staked out in the late 2010s. New entrants filing broad architecture claims now are filing into occupied space, not open ground.
Three subclasses carry almost all the substance
The overlap between B60L, H02M and H02J shows most families are classified across all three, meaning the strongest prior art sits precisely at the intersection of vehicle propulsion and power conversion — the hardest place to design around cleanly.
Co-filing is the exception, not the norm
With only four co-assignee pairings in the entire dataset, most families are filed by a single entity. The strongest pairing links two automakers under common corporate control, not a supplier-OEM technology transfer, which limits what co-filing patterns alone can tell a competitor about supply-chain relationships.
Influence is concentrated in early US filings
The most-cited records in the corpus are US-originated filings from the early-to-mid 2010s describing integrated charger and charging-apparatus concepts. Newer filings, including the 2026 representative record, have not yet had time to accumulate comparable citation counts.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to onboard charger control system, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where the openings sit
The assignee ranking (rendered separately) shows recent-year momentum has gone quiet across the named organisations tracked here — every one of the listed assignees recorded zero filings in the latest year, consistent with the dataset's broader post-2019 decline rather than any single company retreating.
Named leaders have gone quiet, not necessarily inactive
Every assignee with visible recent-year momentum data — including two Korean automakers, two divisions of a Chinese technology group, a US industrial conglomerate and a US automaker's technology arm — shows zero filings in the most recent year. Given the 18-month publication lag, this likely understates true recent activity rather than confirming a full stop.
The tightest pairing is intra-group, not cross-industry
The strongest co-assignee link in the dataset connects two automakers operating under shared ownership, filing 9 families jointly. Weaker pairs link a technology group's own subsidiaries or a university with a commercial partner, suggesting most substantive collaboration here is internal rather than open supplier ecosystems.
Filing is US-centred with a meaningful EPO and India presence
The United States receives more than double the filings of any other office, with Europe (EPO), India and Germany forming a secondary tier. A WIPO/PCT count of 4 suggests most applicants are filing directly into target markets rather than routing broadly through the PCT system.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Hyundai Motor Company | 0 | — |
| Kia Corporation | 0 | — |
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| General Electric Company | 0 | — |
| Ford Global Technologies, LLC | 0 | — |
| Queen's University | 0 | — |
| GaN Energy International Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
This page maps the shape of the field. Turning it into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims and specific assignees.
Run a claim-level check on the dense core
The B60L/H02M/H02J intersection carries the bulk of prior art. Before drafting new PFC or closed-loop control claims, check independent claim scope on the most-cited records directly rather than relying on classification counts alone.
Explore this topic in Patsnap EurekaWatch quiet assignees for the next filing wave
Zero recent-year filings across all tracked assignees, against an 18-month publication lag, means the next visible wave could land within a year or two. Set alerts on the named assignees rather than assuming disengagement.
Set up monitoring in Patsnap EurekaOnboard charger control system patents: common questions
This dataset identifies 58 published patent families between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine onboard charger hardware terms with charging control strategy, PFC control or closed-loop control terms. That is a narrow, control-focused slice — broader searches on onboard chargers generally, without the control-strategy qualifier, would return a larger set. Because publication lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025-2026 count will rise as later applications publish.
The assignee ranking includes two Korean automakers with the strongest co-filing relationship in the dataset (9 shared families), two divisions of a major Chinese technology group, a US industrial conglomerate, and a US automaker's technology arm. Notably, every one of these named assignees shows zero filings in the most recent tracked year, which given the publication lag likely reflects unpublished recent applications rather than exit from the field.
No — filing peaked at 16 records in 2019 and had fallen to 7 by the 2022 midpoint, a flat-to-declining pattern rather than continued growth. This suggests the foundational architecture and control-loop claims were largely established in the late 2010s. New filers should expect to be building on, or designing around, existing claims rather than entering open territory.
B60L (electric vehicle propulsion) leads with 46 of the classified records, followed by H02M (power conversion, including AC/DC circuitry) at 35 and H02J (power supply and grid systems) at 30. Most families sit at the overlap of these three subclasses, meaning the densest prior art — and the highest infringement risk — is at the intersection of vehicle-level integration and power-electronics topology, not in peripheral classes like motor control or magnetics.
The peripheral IPC subclasses — B60R, H02P, G05F, H01F and B62J — each carry only single-digit record counts against the 46-35-30 core, pointing to under-claimed intersections such as two/three-wheeler OBC topologies, bidirectional V2G closed-loop control, and multi-port AC/DC hybrid charging interfaces. Co-filing is also rare across the dataset, with just 4 co-assignee pairs found among 58 families, suggesting limited joint IP strategy around these adjacent branches so far.
Research Onboard Charger Control System in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole onboard charger control system corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.